A Memorial Post for Lt. Christopher T. Starkweather

Ten years ago today the world lost a special soul, my husband, U.S. Navy Lt. Christopher T. Starkweather.

(Chris with our cat Desi, short for Desiree)

Chris died when two T-39 Sabreliners collided during a training exercise over the Gulf of Mexico about 40 miles south of Pensacola, FL.  Six other crew members died with him. There were two Raytheon pilots: retired Marine Corps Lt. Col. Homer "Gray" Hutchinson III, age 57; and retired Navy Lt. Cmdr. Marshall F. "Fritz" Herr Sr., age 59. (Both had grown children and I know that Fritz now has grandchildren that were born after he died.)  The other victims included two instructors, Navy Lt. Cmdr. William R. Muscha, age 36; and Royal Saudi Air Force Maj. Ambarak S. Al-Ghamdi, age 32, who between them left behind 11 children.  The remaining crew members were students: Navy Ensign James T. Logan, age 26 (who was an identical twin); and Marine 2nd Lt. John N. Wilt, age 23.

"I do not know now, nor do I ever expect to answer or understand why this happened," said retired Navy Capt. Charles Tinker in his eulogy. "I fear it will remain a tragic mystery."

The planes landed at the bottom of the ocean, over 210 feet deep.  The navy did decide to try to salvage the planes.  The only human remains that were found belonged to James Logan, which helped to give his twin brother some closure.

I don't remember much from any of the 3 memorial services that were held for Chris outside of people later criticizing me because I didn't really cry at any of them.  I just remember feeling like I couldn't wake up from a bad dream.  I did cry later though, mostly in my shower because it broke my heart even more when my two year old son brought me a baby blanket to dry my tears with one day.

How would I describe Chris to someone who never had the pleasure of meeting him?  How do I describe him to the two children that don't have any memories of him?  (Joey was 23 months and Jessie was 6 months old when he died.)  I see mountains.....I see him skiing down the mountains with his family, laughing with them and spraying each other with snow when they fell.

(Chris' little brother, Jacob, and younger sister, Mary, skiing ahead of me down the mountain.)

Chris running.....he ran ALL.THE.TIME.  Even while in flight school to become a Naval Flight Officer, ( a navigator like the character Goose in the movie Top Gun) he ran ALL.THE.TIME.  I was beginning to hate running around the time he died.  I was a jealous wife and running was "the other woman" in our marriage.  I felt that we had so little time together as a family and it took him away from us, but he had to run.  It was as essential to his happiness as breathing.  Also, what do you buy someone whose only "hobbies" were flying (the navy paid for that) and running (gift cards for shoes each birthday?)  The man made gift giving kind of hard, especially since he was so frugal!  (Chris would order a whopper without cheese and put the cheese on at home rather than pay the extra money for the cheese-he was a very frugal man.)

(Chris before running in his first and only marathon in Lincoln, NE.  That's him crossing the finish line.
Final time was 3:18:02.)

Chris was Catholic, in every sense of the word.  He couldn't articulate his faith very well, but he lived it, he breathed it.  He was a St. Francis in that he walked the walk and only when necessary used words.  In the infamous "conversion story" post that I haven't published yet I will explain how he loved me into the Church. So many people asked me after he died if I was going to stop being Catholic after two years now that Chris was dead.  I guess they all assumed he pressured me.  Out of the seven years we were together before I converted (three years of dating in high school, two years engaged and the first two years we were married) he only asked me five times if I would convert.  The last three of those five times were during the last four months of the RCIA class before I entered the Church on April 23rd, 2000.  I didn't become Catholic to make Chris happy.  I became Catholic because I wanted that faith for myself, but Chris' patience, love and prayers helped to bring me into the Church.  His example of always attending Mass during college, while on vacation and as much as possible when deployed on the Navy carrier also went a long ways.  He also wouldn't compromise by attending any Protestant service whatsoever outside of my baptism.  If I wanted to attend church with my husband I had to go to the Catholic Church service.  I was free to go by myself to a different service, but he wouldn't attend with me.  I think I went twice without him and decided I was wasting precious time that I could be spending with him when time was so limited to be together.

(The two of us on Easter Vigil 2000.  I was 7 1/2 months pregnant with Joey.)

FAMILY.  Chris was all about his FAMILY.

Thankfully God changed our "five year plan", because Chris died four and a half years into our marriage.  God opened our hearts to being open to having babies sooner than either of us "had planned."  First we conceived Joey-both of us were surprised.  We had just started to learn the Creighton Model FertilityCare System of Natural Family Planning, but I was coming off the birth control pill.  We had been told to expect it to take several months before we could possibly conceive a baby.  With God's sense of humor we actually became pregnant in the two weeks that I stopped taking the birth control pill prior to starting Creighton classes.  Chris tried laughing it off when I told him we were pregnant.  I threw the box at him with the "info sheet" about how accurate the tests were.  He read the info sheet quietly and then a few minutes later informed me that he was going to go rest.  (It was still light out-I think it was like 6pm at night.)  Chris didn't get up until the next morning and was cheerfully resolute.  From that moment on he was already a "dad"-he got on me about caffeine, began coming home from work with parenting advice from everyone stationed at the STRATCOM intelligence offices in Nebraska, etc., etc....

(Chris holding Joey after being awake for over 22 hours.)

(Joey this past Christmas-age 11 1/2)

Chris was a devoted son.  He loved his parents and called home several times a week.

(Chris' parents, Larry and Sherry, holding their grandson and godson, Joey.)

Chris was a devoted big brother.  Anyone who was in our high school drama and speech class remembers the hilarious speech he gave about each time his parents announced there was another baby on the way.  He took his job as the big brother seriously and is probably giving their guardian angels pointers in heaven.

(From Left side, starting in back: me-Stephanie, Chris holding Joey, Laura, and James.
Front row: Jacob, niece Reagan and Mary.)

Here's Chris before going out on a "date" with his sister Mary to see a musical.

Chris was also devoted to his grandparents, aunts and uncles.  We've moved things around so many times in this house and so many things are still boxed up that I could only find one photo album (Joey's baby album), so I couldn't find any of the pictures with his aunts and uncles.  Here is Chris with his PapPap and Nanny.  But he was also devoted to his Grandma Jean.  In fact when we lived in Pensacola at the time of his death our house was just 2 blocks away from the house his Grandma Jean and Aunt Linda shared.  (Thus preparing me for having my new mother-in-law live right across the road from me ten years later.)

(Me-Stephanie, Chris holding Joey, Nanny and PapPap.)

Chris was an uncle.  Here he is with his niece Reagan.  Funny story: after we got married and I moved into the military "hotel room" he lived in at Virginia Beach for intelligence officer training school all the cleaning staff wanted to know where "our baby" was because he had pictures of Reagan hanging in his room.  (For those confused Chris was first an intelligence officer and was transitioning to become a naval flight officer when he died.)  Even in college Chris always had pictures of his family (and me) hanging on his dorm room mirrors, so I didn't think it was unusual, but the cleaning staff informed me that most men only have pictures of their kids taped up-not their nieces.

(Chris helping Reagan hold Joey.)

Friends....Chris was a really devoted friend.  This is a picture of his best friend since kindergarten, Christopher Kaufmann, otherwise known as "CK" in the Starkweather household, and his wife Jackie.  Rather than wasting time watching tv or a movie if Chris had spare time he would usually bake brownies and call a friend to see how they were doing....CK, Dionne, Branden, Michelle, Nathan, Jon Watson, his high school cross country coach, etc.  He would always try to make plans to see one or two of them when we went home to Wisconsin.  He was loyal in every sense of the word.  Maybe that's why I've been so blessed to have so many of them stay in contact with us over the last ten years.  I know that it wasn't easy for any of them especially when I started dating again.

(Joey sitting on Jackie Kaufmann's lap with Christopher Kauffmann)

I'm actually quite frustrated that I can't post a picture of Chris holding his daughter Jessie.  (I've been in tears for over two hours now about it.)  Until I find the box Jess just know that your daddy loved you.

(Jessie age 10)

That smile you see of him holding Joey is exactly how he smiled when he held you.  In fact he had a dream of a baby girl about two weeks before your big brother Joey was born.  Whatever he saw in that dream convinced him that we were going to have a baby girl.  He was quite surprised when they said that Joey was a boy.  Your daddy also wanted the name "Jessica."  I wouldn't even allow it on the list as possible girl names for Joey.  But then one day I was tired while pregnant with you....Joey was napping and I didn't feel up to doing housework, so I got on the computer via dial-up and looked up if Jessica was a saint name....low and behold, it was a derivative of St. Joanna, one of the women who found the empty tomb of Jesus on Easter.....and from that moment on you were either going to be a Jessica or a Nicholas....You are the baby girl your daddy dreamed of....you have even fallen asleep many a night reading your daddy's old Calvin and Hobbes books for years now.

(Chris loved Calvin and Hobbes-he even had a Calvin tattoo that he planned on having joined by a Hobbes tattoo on his next naval deployment.  Calvin was holding an American flag on the tattoo.)

I don't know how it can be ten years since Chris died.  It seems like yesterday....yet it seems like forever.  How do I celebrate this day?  Two years ago I was planning on taking all the kids back to Pensacola and asking the training squadron for a tour, etc., etc...Even just a month ago Jason was asking me if I wanted to go to D.C. where Chris' memorial stone is in Arlington Cemetary.  Since we will be going to D.C. to visit family in June I decided to wait and do it then.  Instead I plan on honoring him the same way I always have on this anniversary date: just doing my duty....

(Joey and Jessie when I first started grad school eight years ago.)

We're starting the day with a memorial mass being said for him, then we'll have breakfast, maybe get some school work done before heading back into town for the Tuesday afternoon kid activities.  We'll finish the day though with a meal of some of Chris' favorite dishes: sweet potatoe souffle and a chicken casserole, maybe brownies if I can get them made in time...if not, we can have that later in the week.  We'll put out Chris' picture on the dining room table and light a candle just like we do for his birthday in September.  I'm sure that I will cry at some point since I have been crying off and on for the past few months anticipating this date......but really I think that I honor Chris most by just doing my duty: raising my kids to the best of my ability.  I have made so many mistakes over the past ten years, so many things that I would like a "redo" on....but in the end I hope that even if I were to die tomorrow my kids would know the things that matter most: God, family and country.

(Joey and Jessie on September 6th, 2011-Chris' birthday.)

Several people "accidentally" used the two edged sword saying, "The good die young" after Chris died.....While I understood it, especially after reading the book of memorial letters people sent me after he died-one could probably seriously begin a cause for canonization, especially with some of the events that took place afterwards-it hurt....what does that mean about me???  (Am I chopped liver?)  Why was Chris taken instead of me, especially because I have felt many times he would have handled single parenthood way better than me??....I begged God to reverse events....to bring Chris back to life and take me to heaven to no avail....so instead "I sucked it up"...some days living in just 15 minute increments....and that was really the biggest miracle of my life....I survived what I didn't think I could survive.  Eventually I could breathe again without it hurting....eventually I was happy without "faking it" for my kids.....eventually I was blessed to find Jason, a man who has always honored Chris in our home....I have been blessed to maintain loving relations with Chris' family.....I have three more children that I can't imagine not having loved....but I still love Chris...I will always love Chris and I still miss him....while I can't "see his face" anymore without looking at a picture, I am blessed to still have moments when I feel him with me.  I was afraid of leaving Pensacola, especially because I could still "feel" him there in our house....but God has blessed my move to Ohio in so many ways-and has included that still being able "to feel Chris" when I have needed it.  Joey and Jessie smell like him when they sweat, and I'm right back there to seeing Chris all smelly and sweaty after running.  At times I hear the kids laugh and I see him belly laughing at something I said.  At times I pray and one of "our" songs by Journey comes on the radio....I pray that I finish the race well, that I hold true to the faith and that when I die I will be found worthy of entering eternal life and being greeted by Chris....that I don't do anything stupid to lose my salvation at the last minute....

(Our family currently: Jason, me-Stephanie, Kids in order of ages: Joey, Jessie, Katie, Christianna (known as "Anna" pronounced "AHNA"-she's the child hanging upside down) and Elizabeth Grace (known as "Libby.")  For the record, Jason picked the name Christianna-one she was conceived around Christmas and two, it's a "family" name.....he's that kind of man....not many men have that sense of duty and honor.

One of the few country music cd's that Chris would let me listen to when he was around was by Collin Raye.    It was only recently that I could actually listen to the one song, "If You Get There Before I Do."  The lyrics of that song's chorus are kind of my motto in life:

If you get there before I do 
Don't give up on me 
I'll meet you when my chores are through
I don't know how long I'll be
But I'm not gonna let you down
Darling wait and see
And between now and then ‘til I see you again
I'll be loving you, love me

May the soul of Lt. Christopher Todd Starkweather and all our military departed rest in peace.

Some of the words to "Eternal Father, Strong to Save"

(US Naval Hymn)

Eternal Father, strong to save
Whose arm hath bound the restless wave,
Who bidd'st the mighty ocean deep
Its own appointed limits keep;
Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee,
For those in peril on the sea!

Lord, guard and guide the men who fly,
Through the great spaces in the sky.
Be with them always in the air,
In darkening storms or sunlight fair.
Oh, hear us when we lift our prayer,
For those in peril in the air!

God, who dost still the restless foam
Protect the ones we love at home.
Provide that they should always be
By thine own grace both safe and free.
Oh Father, hear us when we pray
For those we love so far away.

(Chris with Joey about eight months before he died.  Sorry about the camera flash.  I was being lazy and didn't want to take the time to scan the picture.  It's late and I have to leave for mass in five hours.)

Offering Emergency Preparedness Classes

I am so sorry about my lack of blogging!  I have been busy trying to take care of my health, which I shall update on a different blog post.  Jason and I also just gave a S.P.I.C.E. testimonial talk at the 11th Annual Steubenville FertilityCare Center Creighton Model Seminar Day.

Jason is offering a FREE set of classes for anyone who lives in our local area.  He is open to giving a second set of classes if there seems to be enough interest for people that already have Thursday night commitments.  Just let us know and we'll try to plan something for later this spring....Jason was thinking that maybe one four hour class would work?

The information is as follows:

Classes will be held at The UPS Store-Steubenville from 7pm-8pm

March 8th: Emergency Preparedness (Bug out Bags, etc)

March 15th: Emergency First Aid and Evaluating a Casualty

(Break for a Family Wedding and Holy Week)

April 12th: Emergency Power, Food and Water

April 19th: Security, Misc. Topics and Your

Hope to see some of you there!

I also pray that you are having a blessed Lent!

Wishing you the sweet feeling of security,

Stephanie

The Stories That You Just Can't Make Up

So, I have written many blog posts in my mind over the last few months, but just have not had the time to sit down and write any of them.

Life has been crazy and about all I can say for the past few months is this:

We survived and hopefully thrived a little.

This past Saturday though sums up how life has been lately.

I went into town with Libby for both of us to get adjusted by the chiropractor.  Then stopped by the local grocery store for a small shopping run.  Afterwards I went by Joey's married travel soccer coaches' house to drop off our belated Christmas present to them.  Though both their vehicles were at home no one answered the door, so I just figured they were maybe taking a nap with their one year old daughter or something.  I decided to leave the Christmas present in their mini-suv as surprise....Now the soccer coaches live in a what locals call a "holler" around here...a little valley area between hills that locals were crazy enough to build their houses in way back when.....This holler is extra special because you have to drive over a small wooden bridge going across a creek to get to the houses.  Joey's coaches live in the first house on the right IMMEDIATELY AFTER YOU CROSS THE BRIDGE.    I mean immediately....there's the bridge and then there's their driveway.....it's a really tight holler.

Joey's coaches are wonderful people and the only reason he was able to play this fall was because they helped take him to and from practices and away games, so I've been there several times to drop/pick him up....I know that I have to crank the wheel hard when coming out of the driveway to miss the creek bank and end up in their neighbor's driveway so that I can turn around.....somehow that didn't happen this time.....I began slipping down the creek bank.....I slammed the trailblazer into four wheel drive-go forward, go backwards, over and over-but no movement forward-I just keep slipping backwards down towards the creek-and not only that-I am blocking the one way lane to get in and out of the holler....I try calling the wife's cell phone-no answer....go up to the door again to knock-still no answer....I take a deep breath and then call my hubby for help....just as I'm trying to explain to him that I need for him to drive the 20 minutes to come pull me out I look up and see one of the holler neighbors driving down the road towards me wanting to leave the valley....great, just great....still made the mistake of thinking, "Can this get any worse?"

....yes, oh yes, it can......

You see, it was a lovely older gentleman-the kind of gentleman that I would love to sit around and hear his stories, but not end up as "one of his stories."  I could just tell that he was still trying to figure out how I got stuck and why I couldn't get out.....and he couldn't figure out why I hadn't gotten the coaches to pull me out yet....I was trying to explain to him that they didn't answer the phone or door....but he went up and yelled and pounded on the door.  (Now why hadn't I thought of that-oh yeah, because they have a baby!.....)  I then called the husband's cell phone and he answered-but he wasn't home!  He was out hunting!  Just as I was trying to explain to him that the older gentleman wanted them to pull me out with their min-suv the wife coach came to the door....at this point there are four conversations going on: me with the husband on the phone, wife coach to me wondering what I am doing there-older gentleman to wife coach...older gentleman to me....in both cases the older gentleman is barking out orders informing us that he's going to have wife coach pull me out after he goes back home to get a strap.  Wife coach informs him that she's never done that before....he informs her, "That's okay.  I'll teach you what to do after I get back with a strap."  Then I hear him talking to someone else and realize that the older gentleman neighbor whose driveway I was suppose to turn around in has come out to join my humiliation party.

As I am walking towards my truck I see the second gentleman kneeling down by the back end of my truck-which I thought was weird, but thought maybe he's looking to see how stuck I am.  I kindly informed the first gentleman that my husband was already on his way to help pull me out to which he replies, "Oh, you don't want him to see you like this.  Call him back and cancel.  I'll get you out."  Inside I am thinking, "I didn't want any of you seeing me like this."

I begin walking back to my truck and I hear a cat meowing.....I look around and ask, "Is there a cat under my truck?"  To which the second gentleman replies, "I heard a cat meowing too, but didn't see one under your truck-you don't have one inside it?" "No, I don't have one inside it!  I just have a sleeping baby."  I kneel down again with wife coach and sure enough-there is a gray cat under my truck above the gas tank!!!!  We manage to coax the cat out from the truck.  I put it down on the ground and it immediately starts running under the first gentleman's returned truck, so I manage to catch it....no one is claiming it as a holler cat.  Wife coach doesn't want it in either of her vehicles or house because she is allergic to cats.  Neither of the older gentlemen will hold it while we try to get unstuck-though they both tease me about driving twenty minutes into town with a meowing cat under my truck.  I reply that I did no such thing-the cat must have crawled up at either the doctor's office or at the grocery store, which were both less than three minutes apart and about five minutes from the coaches' house.

So, now I'm attempting to be pulled out of the creek with a slim full size skinny strange gray cat running around in my truck because I am afraid it's going to get run over.  Wife coach gets me pulled out with directions from first gentleman....second gentleman unhooks the strap.  I thank everyone profusely, but I still have to "back out" of the holler making a "k turn" with all three of them watching me and a strange cat running around my truck that I am afraid is going to either eat my three pounds of bacon and/or wake up the baby.....and my truck's steering won't work correctly....I am cranking on it, but the wheel won't turn correctly.  Gentleman number one begins yelling out driving directions to me and has to back up his truck because I am making the "k turn" so wide.  I yell back a couple of times that my steering wheel doesn't seem to be working right.  Finally the turn is complete and I can leave.

Now I have the fun twenty minute ride with the cat...I have the thought that this cat could be psycho-it keeps running back and forth from the front seat to the back.  Thankfully it only went into my groceries once or I swear to God that I would have thrown it out of the truck on the major highway-there is no way that I was going to lose my bacon to a stray cat!  I try to keep the cat on my lap with little success.  It tries sniffing Libby and wakes her up.  I say a prayer asking for the cat not to eat her.  I coax it back on my lap and it begins trying to sniff my face-I cringe thinking, "What if it attacks my face!"  At two different points it climbs up onto the top of my head to try to sniff my face-will this car ride never end?!  My guardian angel pulled off the one hard right turn I had to make to get home safe-thankfully there were not any cars in the oncoming lane of traffic.

My entire family thinks it's great that we got another barn cat out of my humiliation....I'm still not so sure.  The cat has followed me from side to side of our house meowing to be let in.....I say it needs to work off the tab it owed me from the car ride to our house in dead barn rats....not sure on it's name yet.  The kids are fighting over "Shadow" and "Smokey"....I say it should be "Creek" or "Miracle" or "Humility."

I just bought some "steering wheel fluid that stops leaks/squeals" and am really hoping that we just have a leak and not any busted lines.

I'm also hoping that if any of you decide to play "secret santa" that you don't slip into any creek beds!!!

Wishing you the gift of being able to see God's sense of humor in life,

Always,

Stephanie

Jason's First Post: 30 Things to Have in an Emergency Kit

Hi everyone!  Sorry on the lack of posts lately.  We were working hard to get the grandmother's house complete for them to move in, but ran into brick wall after brick wall in delays.  We ended moving them into our bedroom suite temporarily while we finish their house.  We will post pictures of the grandmothers and their animals that have joined the farm family as time permits.  Please be patient with us.  We are entering the busiest eight weeks of business at our retail shipping store.  If we don't get more posted before the new year please know that we're not ignoring the blog on purpose-we are just in survival mode!

Here's a link to Jason's first on-line article published on thirtymag.com:

It's 30 Things to Have in an Emergency Kit.

Jason says to "Put together your kit so you can survive any coming disasters in the sweetness of your home!"

Always,

Stephanie

Giveaway Winner Is....Life Update as well

Sorry about yet another delay!!!  Fall time is always crazy, but this fall has been crazier than normal.  I unexpectedly had to work at our store on both Monday and Tuesday, and therefore, have been playing "catch up" all week long....

Our winner, drawn the old fashioned way "out of a hat with my eyes closed" is......

Denise's entry #4: "I liked Thomason Fine Art Group"!!!

Congratulations Denise!

You can message me via facebook and we will ship out a copy of the St Martha painting to you next week!

If you didn't already see that Mark and Nicole have combined their facebook pages to just one as The Pilgrimage then go check it out and "Like it" so you can keep updated on all their artistic adventures!

Life update:  We have encountered road block after road block with trying to put in the pre-manufactured house for Jason's mom and grandmother.  We have also gone through 6 employees in 6 weeks which is a new record for our store.  We thankfully still have one employee that is coming up on her one year anniversary at the store and two new ones hired.  The new employees have now last three weeks without quitting so it is looking promising that everyone will be trained up in time for the Christmas shipping season.  Needless to say Jason has been working 50-70 hour weeks at the store besides putting in the septic system and digging some trenches for electrical wire for the pre-manufactured house.  We are now waiting to hear back from some electricians to see if they can put in the converter equipment to change some of the appliances from natural gas to propane.  Then the electrical company can come and connect wires to the house and we can have a final inspection so his mom and grandmother can move in.  Please pray that this all happens quickly-so that they can be moved in BEFORE Thanksgiving!!!  Otherwise it won't happen until after New Years and we will have to readjust our business plan for Christmas.  (Normally I work 3-4 days/week at Christmas time because I don't have to pay myself as the co-owner.  The money our store makes at Christmas has to last until people start shipping in large numbers again which is normally around Easter time.)  Needless to say my husband and I are like ships passing each other most days.

All is well with the kids.  Joey and Jessie both just got picked to play on the All-Star team for soccer in two weeks.  Joey just put on two scout ranks this past Monday.  Jessie has started guitar lessons with a college student this fall.  Both kids are taking lessons on how to drive our miniature horse with a cart.  Katie and Anna are definitely all toddler....there is no telling what they are up to at any given moment.  Just today while I was helping Jessie finish some animal chores, Katie climbed up on some stuff and managed to find a sunscreen stick which she proceeded to apply all over her body-she even took off her pajama pants to make sure she got it all over!  She informed me that she was ready to go swimming-but it was a little too cold for that today.  Libby is getting big way too fast!!!  She is actually putting on weight faster than Anna and Katie did so I think I actually may have to go and buy winter clothes once again!  It's frustrating when the "hand-me-downs" don't fit because they are the wrong size/season.

We've had many changes on the farm and I will try to update soon.  We do have two different sets of company coming for the last two weekends of October.  I am also way behind on Creighton Model FC paperwork, but it's more fun to blog...so I will try to update soon!:)

As for my health, I have "adjusted" and am pursuing different options.  Some days are more painful than others both physically and emotionally with the uterus prolapse.  I have begun some internal physical therapy, which seems to be helping a lot.  We are hoping to have a "pelvic floor lift" surgery completed in January, which will hopefully help to avoid a hysterectomy.  It means another winter of bedrest/limited activities because I can't lift anything for two months and then will have limited lifting for another four, but the goal of being able to avoid synthetic hormones and not having constant/chronic pain is a good one to shoot for....I am also trying to come to terms with the possibility of not having anymore children.  I am slowly getting to the place where emotionally I can say that I will be okay if I don't have any more children naturally.  While I don't understand God's master plan at work here at all, I just keep trying my best to plod along...to see all the blessings that I am receiving while trying to offer up "the good, the bad and the ugly" of each day....(and lately there seems to be more bad and ugly than good).....To thank God for the sunshine in between the rain....the beauty of the falling leaves....the fact that my husband has been able to take the skills he learned while building roads for the Army in Kuwait and use it to put in a septic system and trenches for electrical wires....that he can watch things on youtube and make it work for our house.....that my husband gets up each day at 6am and then keeps moving non-stop until between 10pm-12pm each night.....and like the energizer bunny he has been doing that over and over again for the past 2 1/2 months....that he is setting a lifelong example of what hard work and "taking care of your family" truly means for our children....and that he has done it cheerfully without complaint....that yesterday when I was about to cry about how far behind I was on my "to do" list, he just looked at me and calmly said, "We have a plan and we will get through this week....then we'll get through next week...."  I wish that I had Jason's calmness when life gets rough.....I am so thankful that God has given me this quiet strong "rock" to cleave to through this stormy fall!!!!

Wishing all of you the sweetful beauty of fall!

Always,

Stephanie

Giveaway Extended

Jason and I have decided to extend the giveaway since no one entered it.  Shipping is FREE-even to Australia and New Zealand, so hopefully someone will win this great print of a beautiful painting!  I saw that several people liked our facebook page and one person even posted it on their facebook page, but everyone failed to come back and "enter" the contest by leaving a comment on the blog.

The details of how to win are as follows:

So if you haven't guessed it yet, our first giveaway has to do with St. Martha....This past July 29th was mine and Jason's fifth wedding anniversary and our 4th anniversary of living here on The Sweetness of Home Farm.....Jason bought me the following painting of St. Martha painted by Mark Thomason of Thomason Art Group as our fifth anniversary present:

With Mark's permission we are going to give away a digital reprint of this painting that was painted on a piece of distressed wood to one special person!!!

The giveaway will be open from now until Sept. 30th October 10th.  Ways to win will be as follows:

1)  Follow my sweet blog and leave a comment down below.  Leave a comment if you already do follow.

2) Like "The Sweetness of Home" facebook page and leave a comment that you did so.  Leave a comment if you already "like" us on facebook.

3)Like "Thomason Fine Art Group" on facebook and leave a comment that you did so.  Leave a comment if you already "like" them on facebook.

4) Check out Thomason Art Group's etsy shop and/or their website.  Leave a comment down below noting which current art work for sale that you like best.

5) Spread the word about the give away by posting about it on either your own blog or on facebook.  Please leave a link down below in the comments so that I can verify the post.

The contest is open to anyone living in one of the fifty states of the United States of America, any of our oversea military bases, any U.S. territories AND CANADA, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND!:)  Giveaway ends on Friday, Sept. 30th Monday, October 10th.  We will announce the winner on Sunday, October 2nd- Tuesday, October 11th so check back then to see who won!!  If winner does not contact me via email by October 7th, 2011 October 18th with a UPS shipping address then I will select a runner-up winner.

Disclaimer: I am not being paid for this endorsement/giveaway.  We bought the painting from Mark and Nicole, but they are very sweet friends!!!!!  I wish they still lived here in Ohio instead of way far off in Colorado!!!!

Don't you love this painting showing St. Martha praying in between all her work?!

A life of true service for God has to be anchored with an active prayer life.

Wishing all of you the sweetness of peace as most of us start a new school year and are busy harvesting our homesteads!!

Always,

Stephanie

Funny Birthday Present

My Funny Birthday Present

Yesterday was my birthday.  I am another year younger.

I will try to get the blog updated next month with all the pictures of family visits, etc.  Right now I am working on some family and Creighton Model FCC projects.  Right now at this moment I am avoiding my laundry pile.

I asked my mother-in-law Debbie last month if she would get me a pink handled tool set.  My tools and replacement tools have all been "misplaced" around the farm...used for projects and never returned.

Debbie got me this:

A pink basket with tools.  The tools are:

bungee cords, a tape measurer, a small saw, a mag light, 132 pieces picture hanging kit, hex key ring set, pliers, and a 6 in 1 pink hammer screwdriver set....

Yep....that's right....now when we lose my hammer we will lose my screwdrivers and vice versa....

I've been laughing since I opened it!!!!

What is the funniest present you have ever received?

Wishing you the sweetness of laughter,

Always,

Stephanie